Peace of Risen Christ and Essence of Christian Living

In the gospel of today, we have two appearances of risen Jesus to the apostles; one in the absence of St. Thomas and the other with the presence of St. Thomas. In the first part the risen Lord empowers the apostles by breathing on them the Holy Sprit. This empowerment becomes complete only on Pentecost day – the universal outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The first reading from the Acts 4:32-35 summarizes the life of the first church, the primitive church in Jerusalem. The first Christians sold everything and brought them to the feet of the apostles (Acts 4:34-35). The apostles with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, continue to bear witness to the Risen Lord. The teaching of Jesus is actualized in the primitive church. The hospitality, sharing, caring, loving one another are practiced with great zeal. Because, their only concern was to win redemption by obeying God’s commandment; Love God and Love one’s neighbour. Jesus taught the rich man not to go on identifying who is one’s neighbour but to focus on how to be neighbour to anyone. This becoming a neighbour is practiced very much in the primitive church. As the apostles continued to proclaim their shock about resurrection of the Lord, they too encouraged the believers to live a community life, because of which no one lacked anything (Acts 4:35). This way of life is a revolutionary in those days. That’s why prior to the name Christians they were called as the ‘followers of the way’. This new way of sharing material things with others without any reservations, treating the other as equals without any discrimination and giving one’s life for Jesus as honour and privilege got the attention of many. The two things that made Christianity to spread are: i) the proclamation about resurrected God and ii) the community life of the believers. If today the world is civilized, it is because of the christianity. The community life triggered the development in the society, focused on the eradication of the poverty and set the humanitarian work as primary concern. The risen Jesus glorified and dignified the human life. Thanks to His passion and resurrection. The proclamation of heaven made the humanity to be disciplined on this earth.

In the second part of the gospel, St. Thomas represents each of us who seek for sings and miracles to believe in God. Most of the time we expect miracles from God, so that we may acknowledge Him. God does not need our acknowledgment. He is who HE IS. If our faith is simply based on signs then that would be mere attraction, not real faith. The real faith is to believe without any reservation. The outward signs and miracles happen at times. They are to sustain us in faith. They are a help to our weak nature. Actually we are more blessed, because we believe in Jesus without seeing Him (Jn 20:29). The people who lived with Him and all the more who witnessed His resurrection are more responsible to communicate the truth about Him. The more the privilege, the greater the responsibility.

The central message of resurrection is ‘peace’. The risen Jesus said peace to His disciples even to St. Thomas who demanded sign. The death of Jesus brought harmony and peace between God and man. In turn, Jesus sent His apostles to spread the peace of God/Christ. The life of Christian is a community life, a peaceful life. This is realized as each of us try to become a neighbour to anyone without any selection. In becoming a neighbour we discover our faith in Christ. In becoming a neighbour we establish peace with God and in Society. In becoming a neighbour we acclaim the risen Lord with the words of St. Thomas “My Lord and My God!”. Let our becoming a neighbour establish peace that Risen Christ shared with us. Let us not seek signs for attraction but have faith to live the essence of Christian life; becoming a neighbour

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